Perfect Your #PitMad Pitch

I found my publisher by participating in #PitMad- a Twitter pitch party scouted by agents, editors, and publishers. I am beyond excited to announce my NA Romantic Suspense Russian Tattoos will be published on January 12th, 2016.

Now I want to help you craft your pitch so that you will be among Brenda Drake's Pitmad success stories, too!

First, the rules for December 4th have changed. This new format is much better in my opinion and more user friendly for authors and agents / editors / publishers as well. Authors just need to come up with three different pitches per project, and then post each pitch once during the 8am-8pm EST timeframe.

Your pitch must include three important elements:

1. The Hook- give the industry professionals a reason to want to read your story in 140 characters or less. Focus on the characters and high stakes. Here are the three pitches I tweeted for Russian Tattoos:

Falling in love isn’t a crime, but falling in love with a Russian mob boss could get tennis star killed RUSSIAN TATTOOS #PitMad #NA #S

RUSSIAN TATTOOS Tennis star is the obsession of Russian gangster. She must outsmart the mob b4 the attraction turns fatal #S #PitMad #NA

Tennis star falls for a Russian mob boss who earned every prison tat on his body. Love is blind, but it could also be deadly #S #NA #PitMad

2. The Hash tag- in order to participate in the contest, you must include the #PitMad hash tag.

3. The Genre- #NA, #S, #R, etc. Certain agents / editors / publishers are looking for specific genres. Be sure to tag all applicable genres so that you can be found when they search. For a complete list of genres and hash tags, visit Brenda Drake's website.

Once you craft your perfect pitch, add the #PitMad hash tag, and the genre hash tag, you are ready to pitch on December 4th, 2015. According to the new rules, everyone is welcome to pitch three different pitches for one project, one time per day during the 8am-8pm window. Then, stalk your Twitter feed and wait for agents / editors / publishers to "heart" your tweet.

What does that mean? How will they contact authors to request sample pages or full manuscripts?

This is the easy part. Industry professionals will simply favorite your tweet. Click on their name to find out more about them. Most will post a message on their page that reads something like this:

"If I favorite your tweet, please send the first three chapters and a synopsis to my email address FantasticAgent @ yadayadayada (dot) com"

Then, IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SENDING TO THAT PERSON follow the directions and send your work. Keep in mind, you are not in any way obligated to send your work to anyone for any reason. If you don't want to send your work to someone who favorited your tweet, then do not send. Do your homework BEFORE you hit send.

For all the details and rules about #Pitmad visit www.Brenda-Drake.com

If you are wondering if I am happy with my new publisher, Limitless Publishing, the answer is absolutely yes! Check out their website for submission guidelines and all of their awesome titles: www.limitlesspublishing.net

I hope this information comes in handy while you are perfecting your pitches for #PitMad. I wish everyone much success, and I hope you have a lot of fun along the way. The writer's journey is a tumultuous adventure, and I know firsthand the emotional ups and downs we all experience in QUERY HELL. Everyone has been rejected, but it only takes one "yes" to start a new chapter in your career.

If you have any questions about #PitMad, reach out to me on twitter @KatShehata and be sure to share your good news with me as well.

High-fives and fist bumps to all writers out there. You got this!!!